A World in Darkness
by Kips34
Summary: The world ended. The universe fell. And the shadow of Thanos' oppressive rule covered them all. But that was only the beginning. Who will survive to lead Earth in its fight against extinction?
1. Prologue

**A WORLD IN DARKNESS**

 **SUMMARY –** The world ended. The universe fell. And the shadow of Thanos' oppressive rule covered them all. But that was only the beginning. Who will survive to lead Earth in its fight against extinction?

 **COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER –** This is purely a work of Fanfiction. All Avenger's characters and recognizable plotlines are the property of Marvel. All Twilight Saga characters and recognizable plotlines are the property of Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.

 **PROLOGUE**

After the Avengers defeated Loki and his army of Chitari in New York, Thor used the Tesseract to return his brother to Asgard for punishment. What none of them realized at the time was that Lord Thanos had been the one truly behind the attack on the city.

Without the infinity stones, Thanos' magic could not reach Midgard as it was protected by an ancient Asgardian ward designed to keep him out. So he sent Loki, after months of torture, and acting under the threat of death, to retrieve the Tesseract for him.

Thanks to the Avengers, Loki failed him, but by returning the powerful cube to his home realm, Thor inadvertently brought it back within Thanos' reach.

Within months, he had defeated Asgard's armies, killed King Odin and Queen Frigga, enslaved the Asgardians, and stolen the Tesseract. Within a year, Thanos had conquered all realms bar Midgard and collected the rest of the infinity stones and the infinity gauntlet. With their power in his grasp, it was a simple matter for his forces to take Earth.

The Avengers fought him and his armies, of course, but with SHIELD crippled by the return of HYDRA, they weren't strong enough to stop him.

Believing that the team of heroes might be a valuable source of intel, Thanos ordered them to be taken alive, and interrogated using whatever means the Chitari deemed necessary.

That was three years ago. Three years in which the six strongest fighters Midgard had have suffered dearly in captivity. Three years that have seen billions of human lives lost, and hundreds of millions of the survivors enslaved.

And three years in which a single woman has gathered a powerful force of resistance against Thanos' rule.

When Iron Man revealed himself to the world for the first time, Bella Swan was a nineteen-year-old, volunteering abroad with a small group of humanitarians. They had made their way into a small village in Afghanistan called Gulmira filled with refugees, offering aid, only to find themselves caught in the middle of a raid by the Ten Rings.

It had been six months since she had been forced to watch her beloved Edward killed in the battle with Victoria. The alliance between the Quileute wolf pack and the Cullen coven was stronger than ever, but in the wake of Edward's death, Bella needed to get away from Forks. And the opportunity to volunteer abroad had been the perfect opportunity to escape her grief.

Tony Stark's intervention that day in Gulmira saved her life, and she swore that she wouldn't waste another second of it.

When she returned to Washington, Bella trained under her father and joined the Forks Police Department. It wasn't long before she was recruited into the Seattle PD, where she rose through the ranks quickly, putting her legendary skills of deduction and observation to work, protecting people.

She kept an eye on Iron Man's activities, and when the Avengers revealed themselves during the battle of New York two years later, and she watched as Stark sacrificed himself and fell from the sky nearly dead, she decided to travel to the ruined city to help them rebuild.

Three months later, she joined the NYPD and made a home for herself just five miles away from Stark Tower.

And then came Thanos and his armies. Bella fought for as long as she could, but was gravely injured. The Chitari left her for dead in the rubble, but she did not die. She rose from the battlefield and escaped into the night, vowing to never stop fighting until the Avengers were freed and Thanos was destroyed.

That was three years ago. Three years that she has fought her enemies at every turn. Three years in which she has joined together every pack, coven, and pride still standing. Three years in which she built a sanctuary for human, alien and supernatural survivors alike to escape Thanos' rule.

And three years for her to plan the destruction of Thanos and every one of his allies on Earth...


	2. Chapter 1

**A WORLD IN DARKNESS**

 **SUMMARY –** The world ended. The universe fell. And the shadow of Thanos' oppressive rule covered them all. But that was only the beginning. Who will survive to lead Earth in its fight against extinction?

 **COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER –** This is purely a work of Fanfiction. All Avenger's characters and recognizable plotlines are the property of Marvel. All Twilight Saga characters and recognizable plotlines are the property of Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.

 **CHAPTER 1**

When Bella's eyes opened, the first thing she noticed was the bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling above her. It was on... There hadn't been working electricity outside of the Chitari work camps in nearly three years. Which could only mean one thing; she had been captured by Thanos.

She should have been concerned by this, but being captured was always a very real possibility with any of their missions. She just hadn't expected to wake up in a holding cell, very clearly still on Earth somewhere. Bella had always assumed that if she was ever taken she'd awake, if she awoke, aboard one of Thanos' ships in orbit. Waking up here was either a very good thing or a very bad thing, she wasn't sure which yet.

Bella slowly lifted herself to a seated position against the concrete wall of her tiny cell, letting her eyes roam, taking in her surroundings carefully.

Three walls, ceiling and floor. All concrete. No windows, no ventilation shafts, no accessible plumbing. At first glance, the fourth wall of the cell appeared to be simple steel bars, crisscrossed to prevent her escape, not that unlike the cell doors of Old World human prisons.

But Bella knew better. The slight flickering of the light above her head told her that something else in the cell was draining what little power there was available. A force field spanning the space between the bars most likely.

That was the first good news she'd had since she awoke. Granted, the presence of the force field at all made the likelihood of her escaping on her own next to impossible, but the power fluctuations meant she was still within the North East region where she'd blown the drilling platform.

But it did raise an interesting question: Who else was here with her? Because Thanos hated her, and knew enough about her operations to want to keep her alive for leverage and information, but he would never have diverted precious resources to keep a force field up in the prison if she was the only one there he considered a threat.

Bella knew that with enough time, she could use the circuitry in the light fixture above her to overload the force field. But she also knew there was no way for her to get past the steel bars on her own. So she either needed to get her hands on one of the guard's keys, or she needed to find a way to get someone else in her cell with her, preferably someone with superhuman strength or some form of added ability.

She was pondering her options when she heard the echoing sounds of heavy footsteps approaching her cell...

 **6 HOURS LATER**

When Tony's eyes opened again, blinking against the harsh light of the force field beside him, he knew he wasn't in his usual cell. It smelled different, the air somehow more fresh, and the normally invisible barrier across the bars was glowing a threatening orange. He was barely conscious when he heard someone shuffling beside him and nearly jumped out of his skin as a hand landed softly on his shoulder.

"Tony?" a deep, male voice reached his ears and as he turned towards the source of the sound he had to keep from crying out in his relief and joy.

"Steve?" he couldn't believe that Captain America was sitting beside him in this new cell. For the first time in almost three years, he was face to face with his old friend and teammate, one who he'd believed was long dead, and he couldn't help the ridiculous smile that spread across his face at the sight.

"Good to see you Tony," Steve spoke softly, his hand squeezing comfortingly where it had landed on his shoulder, "Are you hurt?"

"Just the usual," he responded blandly, not wanting to draw attention to his broken ribs and what was shaping up to be a moderate concussion, "I've had far worse these past few years. How are you holding up?"

"A little worse for wear, but nothing life threatening," Steve assured him, shrugging off his own cuts and burns. Tony wasn't the only one that had fared far worse at the hands of Thanos and his warriors.

Sitting up stiffly and leaning his back against the wall of the new cell, Tony took a look around the cramped space, surprised to see the unconscious forms of several others there as well. Clint and Natasha he recognized right away, both lying prone on the ground, but facing him. He spotted Bruce next, curled up against the wall in the far corner, his face battered and bruised in a way Tony would have never thought possible given the nature of the Hulk. There were two other people against the other wall, but both were faced away from him and he wasn't sure who they might be, his head throbbing too much to really try to figure it out.

"Three years in solitary," Steve mused aloud, "Interrogations, beatings, torture, but they always kept us separated. I was sure the rest of you were dead, and I'm sure you probably thought the same. So why throw us all in here together now? What changed?"

Tony didn't have any answers for him, but before he could respond, Clint stirred, bumping Natasha in the process and both opened their eyes startled.

"What the hell?" Natasha grumbled, wincing as she tried to move.

"Tasha?" Clint mumbled, still sounding somewhat incoherent in his semiconscious state, "That you?"

"Barton?" she returned, a tiny hint of a smile playing at her usually stoic face, "You're alive," she whispered, her voice full of obvious relief and barely concealed joy.

"Please tell me you're really here," Barton pleaded almost silently in an uncharacteristic show of emotion.

Natasha scooted awkwardly across the cell floor, ignoring the sharp pain in her shoulder as she wrapped her former SHIELD partner in her arms. "I'm here. We're both here," she assured him, her voice cracking at the end.

"Um, hi guys," Tony cut in awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt what was clearly an emotional moment for his teammates, but also really needing to know that they were ok.

"Tony? Steve?" Natasha looked like she might cry as she made eye contact with the two men across the cell from her, "You're alive..."

"So it seems," Tony responded dryly, "Bruce is here too," he pointed out, gesturing to the still unconscious man in the corner.

"Any idea why Thanos arranged this little family reunion?" Clint asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Tony said, looking deep in thought, "The last thing I remember was the sound of an explosion above my cell. I think I was hit by some falling debris," he continued, gently rubbing the bump on the back of his head as he thought over the events of the last day trying to isolate what must have happened, "And then I woke up here."

"I heard the explosion too," Natasha agreed, "Then the force field on my cell started blinking on and off. A couple of Chitari soldiers came in before it failed completely and stunned me. And then nothing before I woke up here."

"I was already in interrogation when the explosion went off," Steve continued with his version of events, "So Jarkeil injected me with something and I passed out."

"Pretty much the same story here," Clint put in, "So what are we thinking? Someone set off a bomb or something, an attack on the prison maybe? And the cells' force fields were damaged or the power cut or something, so Thanos puts us all in one place while they fix things?"

All three of his teammates were staring at the archer with wide eyes. "What?" he demanded, "I'm not a complete moron."

For the first time in years, they found themselves laughing heartily. They were still trapped in a prison cell, surrounded by enemies, while the world around them was probably in complete chaos, but they were alive, and they were together.

The peaceful moment was broken by a pair of pained grunts in the cell. Bruce was waking up. And the mystery man appeared to be stirring as well.

"Bruce?" Tony called to the other man as he shifted on the cell floor, clearly uncomfortable, "You ok there buddy?"

But it wasn't Bruce's voice that responded first. The other man had turned to face them all, his eye landing on Tony with surprise, "Stark?" he uttered the word with an exasperated laugh, "I should have known you were too stubborn to die."

And the entire Avengers team, minus their missing Asgardian member, stared in shock as none other than former SHIELD Director Nick Fury sat up against the wall and let his one good eye meet each of theirs.

Tony recovered first, covering his confusion and shock with his signature sarcasm, "I must've rubbed off on you, Patches, because you don't seem to know how to die either."

His familiar teasing attitude was enough to break the tension and bring them all back to the present. Which just left one question on all their minds...

"So," Steve spoke up, turning to Fury for the answer to the question every one of them wanted to ask, "Who's our last guest at this party?"

Nick reached for the mystery woman's shoulder, turning her towards him, still unconscious and clearly injured. "No one I know," he declared upon seeing her face, "But then again we have all been out of the loop for a few years now. She'd have to be someone of importance for Thanos to take her captive in the first place, and placing her in this cell with all of us has to mean something…"

"I'm sure when she wakes up, she'll be able to tell us," Steve adds, his curiosity piqued by her appearance. He tries to hide it, but he also can't help but feel like he knows this woman somehow. He can't place her face, and that's not entirely surprising considering the years he has spent in captivity, but he knows he's seen her before.

 **2 HOURS LATER**

Bella groaned in pain as she came to on the cold cement floor of the holding cell. Beyond her obvious injuries, her lungs burned from the icy water, and her head was pounding, an unfortunate side-effect of the Chitari weapons.

"Shit," she grumbled under her breath and she opened her eyes and rolled onto her side, "Damn stunners still feel like the hangover from hell..."

Every pair of eyes in the room were trained on her, no doubt trying to determine who she was and why she'd been placed in the cell along with the rest of them. No one moved at first, but when Bella winces as she sits up against the concrete wall, Steve reacts.

"Easy there miss," he says as he moves over to her, his own wounds protesting the action, "Are you alright?"

"I've had better days," she replies with a breathy chuckle, "But I'll be fine." She looks up as she finishes speaking, meeting his eyes, and can't help the light gasp of recognition as she realizes just who is in the cell with her, "Captain Rogers?"

Steve's eyes widen at her question, startled that she knows who he is, and he notices in the corner of his eye line, Natasha's gaze narrow in suspicion. "You know who I am?"

"The legendary super soldier, a man lost in time, leader of the Avengers," she answers cheekily as she slowly pulls herself up to a standing position, still leaning heavily against the wall, her arm wrapped tightly around her damaged ribs, "Captain America... I hate to have to be the one to tell you this Rogers, but pretty much everyone knows who you are."

Tony can't help but appreciate the new girl's attitude and light sense of humor in face of their situation, "You hear that, Spangles?" he jests, breaking the tense silence as they all watch her limp to the center of the cell and look up at the light fixture thoughtfully, "You're famous!"

"It's good to see the famous Tony Stark hasn't lost his sense of humor," Bella continues, turning to the genius still seated on the floor of their cell, before reaching up and pulling the light bulb free of its casing to fiddle with the attached wiring.

Clint and Natasha share a look filled with suspicion and concern before he rises slowly, trying to hold in his sounds of discomfort as the movement tugs at his wounds and asks Bella, "What are you doing with that?"

"The Chitari attacked the nuclear reactors and power plants fairly early on," she begins, only to be cut off by Natasha's snapping response of, "We remember."

"Well," Bella continues, unphased by the spy's antagonism, "the whole grid collapsed not long after New York fell, and you all were captured."

Fury looked confused, "This place has had power as long as we've been here..."

"This facility was running on geothermal power, drawn from a nearby drilling station," Bella explained as she continued to reorder the wires and strip the inner components, "I was captured blowing that drilling station sky high," she continues with a small smile, "Thanos was obviously able to redirect power from another station in order to keep this place operational, but it spread his resources too thin, hence the flickering lights and flashing force fields."

"So you're trying to, what exactly?" Clint repeated his earlier question, clearly not understanding the ramifications of her explanation.

Bruce and Tony however immediately understand what she is telling them and are both rising to their feet alongside the confused archer before he's even finished asking. "You're using the light's internal circuitry to reroute the power away from the cell door?" Tony asks, surprised and a little impressed.

"But the force fields the Chitari generate have a voltage at least ten times the maximum capacity for," Bruce begins before Bella's laugh cuts him short.

"When fully operational you'd be absolutely correct Dr. Banner," she addresses his concern, once again using their names without having been introduced, "But I'm sure you all heard my little explosion just before your relocation to this lovely cell. That door is only drawing on emergency back-up power now, and I have no intention of sticking around for them to finish patching things up."

With a final twist and click, she places the light fixture back in its casing and turns to the door, watching as the force field flickers, its menacing orange glow growing dimmer with each flash, before it finally goes dark and doesn't reignite.

"So, Captain," Bella turns back to Steve, thanking every God she knows that the super soldier was among the group she had the good fortune to be jailed with, "You think you're up to getting us out of here now?" she asks, gesturing to the steel bars.

"With pleasure ma'am," he replies, walking across the cell to grip the bars tightly in his grasp as Clint helps Natasha to her feet, supporting her weight, and Fury rises behind them. With a swift, strong pull, Steve pulls the bars clean off their hinges and sets them aside as if their weight is nothing at all.

"Let's get out of here," Bella says quietly as she passes Steve, squeezing his shoulder lightly in thanks for his help.

"Wait," Tony stops her before they move to make their escape, stretching his hand out for her to shake, "What do we call you?"

"Bella," she replies easily, taking his hand in hers firmly, her eyes full of mirth, "Bella Swan."


	3. AN

**THIS IS NOT A NEW CHAPTER... But there will be one very soon... :)**

 **A/N: I am so sorry everyone for the long wait on updates across all of my stories. I have been dealing with a tremendous amount of personal struggles over the last several months, and I know it's no excuse for neglecting all of my wonderful readers, but I am sorry all the same. I just wanted to let you know that I have not abandoned my stories, and I am working on updates as we speak, so the long wait is almost over. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my stories in the last few months, and thank you to everyone who is still reading my work despite the long wait.**


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